Customer told me my brush was leaving marks - fixed it overnight

Last Tuesday a lady called me back because she saw gray streaks on her white brick after I swept her flue. I was using my standard wire brush like always, but on her soft clay liner it was scratching and leaving residue. Switched to a nylon brush with poly heads and the difference was night and day. No more marks, and it actually grabs the soot better on smooth surfaces. Has anyone else run into this problem with older tile liners? What brush are you using for soft clay?

3 comments

3 Comments

lewis.brian4d ago

I heard on a podcast that nylon brushes are way better for older clay flues.

lee6894d ago

Wait, did that podcast actually talk about the difference between wire and nylon on old clay flues? My buddy Mike learned this the hard way last winter. He used a steel wire brush on his 1950s clay liner and it chipped a big chunk right off the top where it meets the chimney crown. His sweep told him the clay gets brittle over time and the nylon brushes are way more forgiving, they just scrub the soot without gouging the flue. Mike had to spend a weekend patching that liner with refractory cement and it was a total mess.

stella224d ago

Oh boy, I learned that one the hard way too, and my chimney looked worse than my first attempt at baking a cake.